Hagel: Israeli Pressure Pushed Iran to Bargaining Table

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel of the United States was quoted, Monday, that pressure on the part of Israel helped bring the Tehran government to the negotiating table regarding its nuclear development program. Interviewed last week by Bloomberg.com columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, Hagel said, “It’s true that sanctions -- not just U.S. sanctions but UN sanctions, multilateral sanctions -- have done tremendous economic damage. Even many of Iran’s leaders have acknowledged that. And I think that Iran is responding to the constant pressure from Israel, knowing that Israel believes them to be an existential threat. I think all of this, combined, probably brought the Iranians to where we are today. Whether the Iranians will carry forth on that, we’ll see.”